diff --git a/images/keria.dockerfile b/images/keria.dockerfile
index 34f9e3e..5d2f0bb 100644
--- a/images/keria.dockerfile
+++ b/images/keria.dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Builder stage
-FROM python:3.10.13-alpine3.18 as builder
+FROM python:3.12-alpine3.19 as builder
 
 # Install compilation dependencies
 RUN apk --no-cache add \
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ RUN . "$HOME/.cargo/env" && \
     pip install -r requirements.txt
 
 # Runtime stage
-FROM python:3.10.13-alpine3.18
+FROM python:3.12-alpine3.19
 
 # Install runtime dependencies
 RUN apk --no-cache add \
diff --git a/src/keria/app/cli/commands/start.py b/src/keria/app/cli/commands/start.py
index 7381e02..7447f05 100644
--- a/src/keria/app/cli/commands/start.py
+++ b/src/keria/app/cli/commands/start.py
@@ -60,10 +60,12 @@
                     help="TLS server signed certificate (public key) file")
 parser.add_argument("--cafilepath", action="store", required=False, default=None,
                     help="TLS server CA certificate chain")
+parser.add_argument("--loglevel", action="store", required=False, default="CRITICAL",
+                    help="Set log level to DEBUG | INFO | WARNING | ERROR | CRITICAL. Default is CRITICAL")
 
 
 def launch(args):
-    help.ogler.level = logging.CRITICAL
+    help.ogler.level = logging.getLevelName(args.loglevel)
     help.ogler.reopen(name=args.name, temp=True, clear=True)
 
     logger = help.ogler.getLogger()